Christmas Owl Embroidery Design, Christmas Pattern, Instant Download

This owl is round. Very round. Like somebody drew an owl and then inflated it. The body is a puffed-up sphere of sky blue feathers with darker teal edge detailing across em, and the wings are tucked so tight they barely read as separate from the body. Big round yellow eyes stare straight ahead with that owlish expression thats somewhere between bored and alarmed. A red santa hat sits flat on top of the head, the grey brim pushing down at an angle with the white pompom flopping over the top. Pink tuft feathers poke out above the brows from beneath the brim edge. Orange taloned feet visible at the bottom grip-style like the birds sitting on a branch you cant see.

Nine colours. The blue body fill has density variation across the feather sections so it reads as textured rather than flat. my main software handled the eye fills with concentric satin rings which gives em that glassy round quality. The grey crown piece at the top uses light tatami with fine satin outlining. 5 sizes run from 3.51 to 7.51 inches wide and 2.4 to 5.13 inches tall, so the design is wider than its tall at every size. Stitch counts go from just under 15k to 40k on the biggest. Thats a big jump in thread volume from smallest to largest.

Bird people and owl people are a very specific audience and they buy this one every christmas. One of my best repeating customers runs an owl sanctuary in yorkshire and she orders this on fleece beanies every november for their winter fundraiser. She told me the combination of the ridiculous santa hat and that blank stare is exactly what their owls look like when the volunteers try to do christmas photo shoots with em. Im not kidding about the stare matching. I get messages from wildlife centre staff about this every autumn and its always the same reaction.

Sew on pale cotton for the clearest blue-body contrast. The yellow eyes pop on pale backgrounds and get lost on yellow or gold fabric. Pale grey also works if ya want the whole thing to read softer. Avoid mid-blue fabrics, the body colour blends in and you lose alot of the feather texture detail.

Use cutaway stabiliser given the 40k stitch count on the biggest size, the dense feather sections need stable backing. Slow machine speed for the concentric eye rings, those satin columns need consistent pace. Hoop tight, the round body shape needs even tension all around or the feather outlines gap on the sides.